“As Bari Weiss’ bumpy tenure as the top editorial honcho at CBS News nears the four-month mark, the millennial opinion writer turned broadcast exec announced that she is taking a hiatus from the podcast she’s hosted for four years. On Friday, Weiss made the announcement of her hiatus from her podcast Honestly With Bari Weiss”, — write: www.hollywoodreporter.com
On Friday, Weiss made the announcement of her hiatus from her podcast Honestly With Bari Weiss in a post on The Free Pressthe news and opinion website that she founded two years ago and was purchased by Paramount Skydance for $150 million. That deal, brokered by CEO David Ellison, also included the editor-in-chief of CBS News gig for Weiss, putting her at the helm of a major broadcast newsroom after spending much of her career as an opinion writer and editor at The New York Times and The Wall Street Journaland running The Free Press.
“If I sound mushy right now, it’s because I love making this show, and I’m not done making it. But as you may have heard, if you have an internet connection, I’ve also taken on a new role, and that’s as editor in chief of CBS News,” Weiss said in a short audio announcement. “So here’s the news, Honestly is taking a little bit of a break. I know it’s hard to hear that. It’s definitely hard for me to do that, because I love doing this show, but I think, and I hope that you’ll understand why.”
Weiss promised listeners that the hiatus is not indefinite and that she plans to bring the podcast back in a few months, as she focuses on reimagining CBS News, which she referred to as “a huge responsibility” and “an extraordinary opportunity” to bring her values and those of her news outlet “into a much bigger arena.”
This pivot away from podcasting comes amid reports of a looming “bloodbath” at 60 Minuteswhere the central flashpoint of tensions in the newsroom, as the controversies surrounding Weiss’s tenure become almost quotidian, may lead to the firings of two producers. Since she was named to her new position, critics have alleged that the conservative-leaning, though self-described “radical centrist,” who made a name as a staunch defender of Israel and a major voice against the agenda of the so-called “woke” left, was installed at CBS News to appease President Trump with favorable coverage as Ellison attempts a hostile takeover of Warner Bros. studio.
For Weiss, widespread reporting on her perceived missteps began immediately, first involving a DOGE-like request for staffers’ daily activities and a round of layoffs perceived to have targeted minorities. Weiss grabbed more headlines in December when, at the eleventh hour, she pulled a 60 Minutes investigation from correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi into the Salvadoran Terrorism Confinement Center; the segment was certainly not flattering to the Trump administration, but had been approved by the network’s legal department and signed off on by top show producers. Yet Weiss claimed it was missing “critical context” and a statement from the administration.
Since the segment was pulled, battle lines have been drawn between Weiss’s team and Alfonsi along with 60 Minutes producer Scott Pelley, who claimed Weiss did not attend screenings of the segment as it was edited for air; he in an internal meeting reportedly said Weiss needs to take her job as CBS News editor-in-chief “more seriously” and that it is not “part-time.” Alfonsi reportedly refused to make any of the requested “crucial context” changes and later snapped at Weiss’ deputy, Adam Rubenstein, calling him a “mouthpiece” for the Trump administration while questioning if he’d even produced a minute of TV news in his career.
The questioned segment was eventually retooled to mention that roughly half of the Venezuelan men deported to CECOT in El Salvador had criminal records or pending charges, before quietly airing on Sunday night’s episode, as Weiss and her team were growing frustrated with the amount of time the producers were taking.
Alfonsi’s contract with CBS is up in a few months, according to the New York Post; it’s unclear when Pelley’s contract with the network expires.
Meanwhile, CBS Evening News’ Weiss-installed anchor Tony Dokoupil has yet to capture a significant spike in audience growth following the 20 percent dip in ratings the nightly program saw in its premiere week. For the week of Jan. 12–16, the nightly broadcast averaged 4.2 million viewers, just slightly up from the 4.17 million who tuned in during its premiere week, with just 584,000 tuning in from the key 25-54 demographic. The show is significantly trailing ABC World News Tonight With David Muirwith an average of 8.2 million viewers, and NBC Nightly News With Tom Llamaswhich averaged 6.7 million viewers.
The dismal ratings news follows a report in The New York Times that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Dokoupil and CBS Evening News executive producer Kim Harvey that President Trump would “sue your ass off” if his interview with the anchor was not aired in full.
The full interview aired on Tuesday, and following the report, CBS News said in a statement that they were always planning to air Dokoupil’s full sit-down with President Trump. Trump recently sued CBS over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. That case was settled by its parent company, Paramount Global, in a $16 million payout.